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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. Here are some more wonderful episodes of this love & fun story. However, it will be the last, hopefully, for now. This is the last volume. It's been a while that we get to see Kaoru & Aoi on a date together, alone. It is nice to see them together, finally. Next up, everyone has decided to go to a spa resort with all kind of hot bath. Man, it does make you feel you want to go there yourself & relax. Well, at least you get to know a little more about Tina & Kaoru. To everyone surprise, Tina is going back to America, but she is keeping her true secret from everyone. I find it very cute that Tine is trying to take pictures of everyone, cosplay style! It's hilarious, especially with Mayu! It's nice that Tina was able to show how she really feels & it's something that can bring you a tear in your eyes. I do want to know that the first episode on this volume have a special ending, along the last episode have a little flash back from the first season as well as a second. It's nice to see something from the past.
Video:
Geneon Entertainment did a very great job, again. I found no problem, the image are clear & the color looks perfect. There is some watermarks done for the introduction & ending credits (they are translated in English). Since all the episodes are on one single track on the DVD, there is no loading time or changing tracks when you move on to the next episode. Each episode is split into 5 parts: introduction, part A, part B, ending & the preview! I do note that you can skip the warnings & logos in the beginning using the "Menu" button on your remote.
Dubbing: English:
The cast have return once again for the second season. The English dubbing is well done. They even capture the emotions & impacts during certain parts of the series, especially the parts that move your heart & brings you into tears. The dialogue even includes Japanese terms, like "chan" or "sama". This way, Geneon Entertainment can get it to be as close to the Japanese dialogue, since its mostly involve Japanese culture. It's about 85% of the original Japanese.
Audio 01: English 2.0:
No problem found.
Audio 02: Japanese 2.0:
No problem found.
Subtitle:
Geneon Entertainment have selected a great font, easy to read. They use green for the introduction & ending themes, white for any text subtitling & yellow for the dialogues. One track is for the sign subtitling & the other one is for the Japanese dialogue. I might note that every odd numbered episodes, the intro & ending subtitles are in English, while the even numbered episodes are in Japanese original text on this volume.
Menu Option:
The menu remains the same design but change yet again. There is a book, a photo album in the center holding the menu options with lots of photos, screenshots taken from the episodes on this volume, in the background. The animation have change to orange green leaves moving by the wind across the screen select the options. There is the "Play All", "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". One of the series background music is playing in the menu screen, the same as the other volumes. However, it's only for the main menu, there is no music playing in the other sections.
DVD Extras:
There is a very nice video clip of the very talent Yoko Ishida, which she sang the theme songs for this series. It is a live recording show at the AX of 2004. At the end, you will get a little bio about her & what other songs she sang. You will also get a non-credit ending for the special ending of EPS 09, which is also cool.
Packaging:
The design remains the same.Miyabi with Uzume! The only thing out of place is the font used for the description, which looks too simple. The insert have a chapter list along with many screenshot from each episode. There is also a picture of Mayu & her piano. Inside the insert is a mini-poster with another very sexy picture of Aoi-chan. Since the DVD case is a clear one, you get to see the other reversible cover, which is nice as the default. On the DVD disc itself, it's the same image as the cover.
PC Viewing:
Watching it on the PC is the same as watching it on the TV. Very clean, no problem at all, very little pixel (little squares popping in & out), both normal mode & full screen mode. The sound is just great. The episodes are place on one single track as you play the episodes, so loading time is really small. You can fast forward to the first episode to the last episode with one move on your mouse! Like on your regular DVD player, you can skip the warnings & logos when you load the disc, just use the "menu" option to go to the menu screen.
Overall DVD Rating:
It's nice to see Kaoru & Aoi finally alone together for a while. Hope you enjoy it, as this is the last volume of this wonderful series. By the way, don't drink like they all do.
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